I did this shoot with NCAA swimming champ David Nolan for the Stanford Daily on a Wednesday afternoon at their outdoor training facility. I arrived early and set up a black background against a wall in a shaded area. David and an assistant from the athletics department came on time and we took standard portrait photos using a main light and a rim light. I like to change things up when I have the time and a willing model so I asked David to get into the pool and do a few laps doing all four strokes of the IM. Risking life, limb, and about $3k in equipment, I got the shot standing on a high dive springboard.  I developed the swimming images against a black background for a different look to really isolate the subject. The story ran the following week to very positive acclaim, mainly from David Nolan himself. I always involve the subject when selecting the photos to go live with and he rejected several but settled with the same ones I favored.

Equipment for this shoot:

Canon 5D MIII

16-35mm f2.8L

Sigma 85mm f1.4

Canon Speedlite 580ex II